It’s September again, and that means the children are heading off to school, and the birds – heading south. And, as tradition goes, Comandante Chávez has embarked on a world tour. This time, the Lt. Col. – the leader of the Bolivarian revolution – visited Libya, where he observed the 40th anniversary in power of another colonel, Muammar Qaddafi. Then – Algeria. Then – he went to Iran. Then – popped into Turkmenistan, which, it seems, turned out to have been a surprise for president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow [We are using the spelling the Turkmens themselves use as they switch from Cyrillic to Latin script, instead of “Berdymukhamedov”, which is actually a transcription from Russian–Ed.].

As straight as a bullet shoots out of a gun, right away Hugo Chávez said to the Turkmens: “Hello. Have you already joined the ‘gas OPEC’?“. Having heard in response that Turkmenistan has not yet joined, Chávez smiled broadly and said: “Then join! We’re inviting you into this organization!“

On the eve of a visit to Russia, lobbying for a gas OPEC will unconditionally score points for colonel Chávez with his friend, lieutenant-colonel Putin.